Rebels fall the hard way

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2003 | 10:07 a.m.

SALT LAKE CITY -- As expected, UNLV didn't leave the Jon A. Huntsman Center with a victory Monday night.

Few teams have since Rick Majerus took over as head coach at Utah in 1989. None have in 13 tries this season after the Utes pulled out an 86-80 overtime win over the Rebels.

But the Rebels (15-8, 4-5) could at least hang their hats on a moral victory after giving the nation's No. 23-ranked team everything it could handle on its homecourt. And they also got a rather glowing endorsement from Majerus, who celebrated his 55th birthday with the win.

"I tell you what, that was a helluva college game," Majerus said after the Mountain West Conference-leading Utes (20-4, 8-1) hit the 20-winsmark for the 11th time in his 14 years in Salt Lake City. "I think UNLV should go on from here and have a great remainder of the year."

The Rebels, who have had their intensity and heart questioned this season, showed a lot of both in the loss.

UNLV rallied from a 14-point deficit with 9:21 left in the second half to take a 63-60 lead with 3:13 to go despite the fact star point guard Marcus Banks (30 points) and starting center J.K. Edwards (9 points, 7 rebounds) spent much of the comeback on the bench with four fouls.

But the thin Rebel bench, led by guard Demetrius Hunter, Ernest Turner and Omari Pearson, came up big down the stretch on both ends of the floor to help fuel the comeback.

After Ute forward Trace Caton hit a huge 3-pointer from the left corner with 25.9 seconds left to give Utah a 67-65 lead, the Rebels fought back to force overtime on two free throws by Banks with 1.8 seconds left.

UNLV seemed to finally wear down in overtime, losing Edwards and starting forward James Peters early to fouls. Center Tim Frost (22 points) and freshman point guard Tim Drisdom (17 points, nine in overtime) came up with several big plays in the extra period for the Utes, who won their eighth straight game and can take a commanding lead in the MWC with a victory over in-state rival BYU next Monday night.

"Our effort was A-plus," forward Dalron Johnson said. "We just didn't have it at the end."

"I was kind of proud of our effort, to be honest with you," UNLV coach Charlie Spoonhour added. "I thought that showed more from my perspective. Coming from 14 down at Utah against a team that's playing well, (and) you're in foul trouble, and Banks goes to the bench and you don't give in ... I like that part of it more than anything."

Few teams have been able to come back in the second half against a Utah squad that ranks second in the nation in scoring defense (58.7 ppg) and is now 17-0 when leading at halftime. But the Rebels had many of the crowd of 11,342 squirmming in their seats when they rallied to force overtime.

"You've got to credit UNLV," Majerus said. "They did a good job defensively. They showed a lot of poise. I think they were really playing smart.

"(Spoonhour) did a great job of using his timeouts and I thought he did a great job of changing his defenses. ... I thought he kept us on our heels a little bit."

"They made some big shots and some big plays," Caton said. "They're a tough team. They're going to be dangerous from here on out."

REBEL NOTES: UNLV plays three of its final five MWC games at the Thomas & Mack Center starting with a Saturday afternoon game against New Mexico and Division I-A scoring leader Ruben Douglas.

Banks almost had to leave the game after crashing to the floor in pain in overtime following a collision in the key. "I thought I was out," Banks said. "I separated my shoulder in the summertime. I heard it pop and I thought that was the deal. My whole (left) arm went numb for like 20 or 30 seconds. That really scared me. It's probably going to hurt worse (today). But I'm going to fight through it and get ready for Saturday."